BY FIKRET BILA
MILLIYET- Columnist Fikret Bila writes on the aftermath of the July 4 detention of Turkish soldiers by US forces in Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
Most people have found the statement of the joint inquiry on the Sulaimaniyah incident released yesterday by the General Staff to be unsatisfactory. The US side expressed regret for its mistake during its talks with Turkey, yet opposed including a written apology in this statement. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday said the mistake was on the part of the American side, noting that US military officials had failed to produce evidence supporting their claims. ‘They talked about Turkish soldiers and their alleged suspicious activities, but had nothing to back up these claims,’ said Gul. ‘We asked them to give us the names of the soldiers allegedly involved in such suspicious activities against the governor of Kirkuk. When no such names proved forthcoming, the world saw that Turkey was right. The US has accepted its mistake. Top US military officials looked into the incident. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is also due to travel to northern Iraq. I guess he’ll investigate the case as well.’
Gul added that the US had taken action to punish the perpetrators of the incident which, he believed, was an isolated event rather than a result of Washington’s overall strategy in northern Iraq. ‘After the incident, we never lost contact with Washington,’ said Gul. ‘I spoke with Secretary of State Colin Powell over the phone to present evidence to him refuting the US claims.’
Gul has recently been criticized for leaving unchanged his plans to visit Washington in the wake of the Sulaimaniyah incident, but he believes his visit will be in Turkey’s best interests. ‘It would be wrong for me to cancel my visit,’ said Gul. ‘The US was offended when Turkey refused to authorize US troop deployments prior to the Iraq war, but then Powell paid a visit to Ankara anyway. It will be in our best interests if I go there to discuss our common problems face-to-face.’
Our foreign minister also stressed that the two sides had agreed to set up committees aimed at preventing any recurrence of such events. Although the US didn’t openly express regret over the incident, clearly Washington is ashamed. As a matter of fact, this is not the first time, and won’t be the last. Washington is losing its credibility.